Using Partial Least Squares to Measure Tourism Students’ Satisfaction with Work-Integrated Learning

Work-integrated learning placement experience can either validate or contradict students’ expectations regarding the industry, job roles and interests, expectations of industry employers, and personal fit with the profession. Determining students’ satisfaction with the placement experience will provide valuable insight to academic institutions. This chapter will explore the preplacement expectations and postplacement perceptions of tourism students and propose a conceptual model for the tourism student’s satisfaction with work-integrated learning. Data were collected using a survey of third-year tourism students. A conceptual model was proposed and analyzed using SmartPLS. The analysis indicated that postplacement perceptions have a significant influence on the satisfaction of WIL. The conceptual model showed an R2 value of 0.427, indicating a substantial impact on satisfaction with WIL

A baseline study of the gaps in work-integrated Tourism learning: student expectations and perceptions.

Work-integrated learning (WIL) has been widely used as an educational component in Universities of Technology (UoTs). With a work-based module becoming compulsory in higher education in South Africa, there is limited research in the academic literature on the gaps between students’ expectations and perceptions of tourism WIL placements. The purpose of this study was to determine the gaps between the expectations and perceptions of tourism students with regard to their WIL placements. Third year tourism students at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) completed expectation surveys prior to obtaining placement and perception surveys after completing their WIL placements. The analysis will be used to reveal trends and patterns in responses through statistical analyses, which will be a useful baseline for further studies as well as initiating debate on the interpretation and use of the data to inform follow-up action. The study concludes that preparation for WIL placement needs to be improved in order to minimize the gaps. Although the study is based on research in South Africa, it is argued that suggestions and discussions of selected placement issues may be potentially applicable to tourism placements in other countries

Tourism students’ experience of work-integrated learning.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of tourism students’ work integrated learning (WIL). The study involved an analysis of tourism students’ that completed the six-month WIL placement between December 2016 and July 2017, from the Department of Tourism Management at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. The study investigated students’ perceptions with regard to WIL placement, hosting organisation and academic institution support. Tourism students’ completed the perception questionnaire at the end of their six-month placement period at a hosting organisation. The data presents the demographic profile of students’, the mean and standard deviation of perception variables of WIL placement, hosting organisation and academic institution support as well as Mann-Whitney and Kruskal Wallis analyses, which are generally used to test for variance between distinct groups. The results indicate that students have a positive overall impression of WIL, but that support from both the hosting organisation and from the academic institution were lacking. The implications for students are potential drop-outs prior to WIL completion, insufficient industry experience and potential career changes

Questioning the Validity of Race as a Social Construct: Examining Race and Ethnicity in the ‘Rainbow Nation’

Governments have historically classified their populations according to race and ethnicity, which has been done to either exert power over minority groups or ensure equality among these groups. However, viewing ones racial identity through a historical lens raises doubts about the validity of race as a social construct, since the concept has seldom served as a strong foundation for social identity formation. As such, we posit that ethnicity is a more accurate predictor of identification than race. Using South Africa as the research context, we examine whether within each race group ethnic differences exist on national identity and social capital measures. Data were collected on race, ethnic identity, national identity, and social capital. Significant differences between ethnic groups within one race group indicate that the current racial classification system in South Africa is open for distortions of how the South African people feel about their nation

Capacity Building and Institutional Development Partnership: University of Florida and Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa

Capacity building and institutional development through training is a key component for the vitality and sustainability of the tourism industry in South Africa. The overall advancement of qualified, trained and skilled labor force is crucial, given the rate of growth and future trends. In order to address this major need, the University of Florida and Tshwane University of Technology have formulated a three-year partnership (2009-2012) to strengthen curriculum, research, and faculty enhancement initiatives in tourism management in South Africa. This presentation will outline and expand the partnership objectives and accomplishments. This example can be a model for international academic partnerships

Significant profile differences among male and female adventure tourists in Pretoria, South Africa

Different adventure activities/experiences evolve because individuals, their motives, behaviours, and experiences differ and change over time. This notion illustrates the broad nature of adventure tourism and its links with other forms of tourism. In turn, adventure tourism companies are compelled to promote/sell an array of activities/experiences to a diverse range of markets as novel and exclusive experiences to facilitate the growth of adventure holidays (Swarbrooke et al., 2003). To assist adventure tourism companies in achieving effective marketing strategies, the study’s objective is to identify significant sociopsychological profile differences among male and female adventure tourists in Pretoria, South Africa. Furthermore, to facilitate the comparison of adventure tourists’ profiles, an equal number of respondents were male (117) and female (117), which provided a 93.6% response rate. In comparison to female respondents, male respondents prefer winter as a season to participate in hard/high-risk adventure activities when they are with or without their family, and they participate in adventure activities for travelling and socialising purposes. Whereas, female respondents predominantly regard scuba-diving, abseiling, and helicopter flights as a hard/high-risk adventure activity, although these activities are generally regarded by the overall sample as being soft/low-risk adventure activities. Furthermore, even though females’ participation in adventure activities is sponsored, they did not participate or only participated in adventure activities once over the past year due to fear/risk and/or lack of skill. This study established that there is a need to further research adventure tourists’ profiles before it could be equally accepted and interpreted

Win in Africa, with Africa: Social Responsibility, Event Image, and Destination Benefits. The Case of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

Applying image transfer related to sponsorship theory and the cognitive-affective model of consumer behavior, this study explores how the deployment of a socially responsible program by a multinational (non-governmental) sport organization impacts the image of a mega sport event. Using the 2010 FIFA World Cup as the research context, the hypothesized model is tested among a sample of international sport tourists (N = 6606) from all nine host cities (ten stadiums) in South Africa during the tournament. The structural model results demonstrate that: (1) tourists\u27 familiarity with the \u27Win in Africa, with Africa\u27 program, and (2) the perception of FIFA as a socially responsible organization influence event image and one form of consumer patronage. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Quality of Life, Event Impacts, and Mega-Event Support among South African Residents before and after the 2010 FIFA World Cup

The purpose of the study was to explore the role of mega-event impacts on perceived satisfaction with quality of life and support among South African residents before and after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Limited research has empirically tested whether quality of life (QOL) is perceived as an exchange benefit that facilitates resident support of mega-events. Intercept data were collected from residents in five host cities three months before (March 2010) and eight months after (March 2011) the event (N = 3,789). Results indicate significant differences in perceived impacts before and after the event. Before the event, the influence of political impacts, psychological impacts, and social benefits on perceived QOL was significant, while QOL mediated the relationships between political, psychological, and social benefit impacts and resident support. After the event, economic impacts emerged as a significant predictor of QOL in contrast to the preevent sample

Ethnic identity over national identity : an alternative approach to measure the effect of the World Cup on social cohesion

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a mega sport event has the potential to bring the nation together by increasing the importance of national identity and decreasing the importance of ethnic identity on the outcome of social cohesion. Instead of replicating prior work that has performed mean score comparisons of national identity, ethnic identity, and social cohesion before and after a particular event, the authors compared the variance explained (pre vs. post event) to show the aggregate influence of the two identities on social cohesion. By focusing on this reporting method, the subsequent discussion rests entirely on the practical influence of the perceptual changes that resulted from event hosting. Data for this trend analysis were collected from South African residents, pre (N = 1749), and post (N = 2020) the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Results indicated that while the importance of national identity on social cohesion did not increase, the importance of ethnic identity did decrease strongly, indicating that these mega sports events might cause individuals to forget about their ethnic differences as a result of these events